$1bn worth of Call of Duty: Ghosts sold into retail on day one

Call of Duty: Ghosts has apparently ‘sold more than $1 billion of Call of Duty: Ghosts into retail stores worldwide as of day one’.

Many are reporting this number as day one sales. It is not.

If it were, it would be an incredible achievement. Unbelievable, even. It would not only double the $500m predecessor Call of Duty: Black Ops II made in its first day but even beat the record-breaking $800m made by Grand Theft Auto V on day one.

However, Ghosts has released at a time when there have been unprecedented annual declines to IPs such as Battlefield 4 and Assassin’s Creed that have quietly been attributed to the belief that gamers are waiting on the release of the next-gen versions for Xbox One and PS4.

Which is most likely why Activision has not announced the game’s actual day one sales numbers.

"Call of Duty is by far the largest console franchise of this generation," Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick stated. "More people have played Call of Duty this year than ever before, logging four billion hours of gameplay.

And in the last 12 months, Call of Duty: Black Ops II, including its digital content, generated more revenues than any other console game ever has in a single year. Although it is too early to assess sell-through for Call of Duty: Ghosts, it’s launching at a time when the franchise has never been more popular."

The publisher also points out that Ghosts is currently the No.1 played game on Xbox Live following an estimated 15,000 midnight retail launches across the globe.

It also boldly predicts that Ghosts will be the best selling next-gen game by far during the launch window.

"This is the must have launch title for the next generation of consoles, and we expect Call of Duty: Ghosts to be the most successful launch title for the Xbox One and PS4 by a wide margin,” Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg added.

In fact, according to GameStop, Call of Duty: Ghosts is their most pre-reserved next-gen title."